MIAMI — A dizzyingly chaotic day for the snake-bitten Mets ended with Johan Santana and J.J. Putz out for the season, Oliver Perez not far behind, Billy Wagner on his way to Boston and GM Omar Minaya on the defensive.

The sudden developments with Santana took center stage, of course, as the team revealed that its $137.5 million crown jewel would undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow.

The Mets expect Santana to be fully recovered for the start of spring training.

Journeyman right-hander Nelson Figueroa took his spot in the rotation last night in a 2-1 loss to the Marlins at Land Shark Stadium.

But word that a pain-stricken Santana surreptitiously had the elbow examined at the All-Star break last month forced Minaya to explain why the Mets allowed the team’s ace to continue pitching since then.

A stammering Minaya justified the Mets’ decision to keep Santana in the rotation even with the team out of contention by saying pain wasn’t a significant issue until Santana’s most recent start Thursday against the Braves at Citi Field.

“It didn’t get worse in the last month or the last six weeks,” Minaya said. “It just got worse after his last start.”

Santana, who allowed three runs on nine hits in seven innings in his last outing, backed Minaya’s version of the events and expressed his support of the Mets’ response.

“The team acted right away, and now you see the results,” Santana, who finishes the year 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA in 25 starts, said in a conference call last night. “I think it’s the right decision. Believe me, I’m going to be ready to go in 2010. I’m very pleased with what we’re doing right now.”

Santana, who had similar arthroscopic surgery on his elbow with the Twins after the 2003 season and won a Cy Young the next year, said he would have insisted on continuing to pitch if the Mets were still in the race.

“I don’t want to get shut down at all,” Santana said.

Yesterday’s events weren’t entirely a surprise because Santana has not been his dominant self this season, with his velocity down 3-4 mph and his command sometimes lacking. The Mets also had not allowed Santana to throw between starts since the All-Star break because of the discomfort.

“In my last game that I pitched, there was some lack of range in my arm,” Santana said. “That’s what kind of concerned me, and that’s when I let everybody know what we going on.”

Santana added that the bone chips were unrelated to the elbow problems early in spring training that threatened to keep Santana from pitching on Opening Day.

“Spring training, when I think about it, was such a long time ago,” Minaya said.

Minaya also revealed that Perez could soon join Santana on the DL after aggravating his injured right knee, while Putz is being shut down for the rest of the season due to a slight tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament.

Yesterday’s drama also included the departure of Wagner, who changed his mind at the last minute and agreed to waive his no-trade clause to complete the waiver-wire deal with Boston.

The Mets received two low-rated minor-leaguers, including Triple-A journeyman outfielder Chris Carter, for Wagner. The Mets are expected to cut their budget dramatically and mostly were interested in dumping the roughly $3.5 million they still owe Wagner.

“I didn’t think [the trade] was going to get done this morning, but eventually it did get done,” Minaya said. “We felt it was the right thing to do.”